CDEMA moving ahead with Early Warning Systems checklist

Technical Advisory Committee of CDEMA during their roundtable discussions.

During the 9th Meeting of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), members endorsed the revised Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems Checklist.

Members of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) have endorsed the revised Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems checklist.

This recent development took place at the 9th Meeting of the TAC recently with the revised checklist to be recommended to the CDEMA Council an important tool to be pursued by CDEMA Participating States.

The Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (MHEWS) Checklist is a practical tool consisting of major components and actions which national governments, community organizations and partners within and across all sectors can refer to when developing or evaluating early warning systems.

Early warning is a major element of disaster risk reduction as it can prevent loss of life and reduces the economic and material impacts of hazardous events including disasters.

During her presentation, Alexcia Cooke, Regional Technical Coordinator, CDEMA, highlighted the development and adaptation process of the Checklist along with the benefits to be derived from its application.

She indicated that the Checklist will be applied in 5 countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines under the project ‘‘Strengthening integrated early warning systems for more effective disaster risk reduction in the Caribbean through knowledge and tool transfer’.

All Participating States were encouraged to pursue its application in close collaboration with relevant public and private sector actions at the national and regional level.

Executive Director of CDEMA, Ronald Jackson said:

“During my tenure with CDEMA and even reflecting on previous interventions, we have not seen a tool that has been geared towards benchmarking or providing standards for Early Warning Systems (EWS) and observing the tool applied in such a way as to determine the progress made by countries against those standards”.

“Throughout the Caribbean, there have been initiatives that have sought to develop EWS at all levels. Previous interventions are therefore useful building blocks towards effective EWS in the countries”, he added.

The objective of people-centred, multi-hazard, early warning systems is to empower individuals and communities threatened by hazards to act in sufficient time and in an appropriate manner to reduce the possibility of personal injury and illness, loss of life and damage to property and the environment.

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